Not only is this an exclusive interview but also our first interview request via Twitter. We sent a direct tweet to the founder and VP of Marketing, Ashraf Mansoor asking for an exclusive interview. He was very gracious to participate and discuss Twffaha, a new job recruitment portal specifically for women in the Middle East. Twffaha is based in Sudan and has already been featured on several sites, check out this review from StartupArabia. This interview marks their first media article via a Western Muslim site. Ashraf is also very kind to offer our female readers looking for work in the Middle East a beta invite to their site. Read the interview for instructions.

IslamCrunch: What is your web application/service about?

Twffaha: We connect women who are looking for jobs to employers who are looking to recruit women for certain vacancies. Twffaha is the only portal specialized in recruiting women in the Middle East.

IslamCrunch: Why did you start this project?

Twffaha: We feel that the online recruitment market in the Middle East is already full with prominent players. However, as a job seeker or employer you will find it harder every time you look for a job or advertising a job in case
you were an employer. The market needs to be more organized, and that
can be achieved by exploiting niches and adding value for both parties, job seekers by offering them a portal that is only aimed at women, and employers by reducing their recruiting costs and offering them more focused job postings.

IslamCrunch: How does your project relate to Muslims? Or is your project geared towards a general audience?

Twffaha: Twffaha.com is geared toward a general audience, we do not ask for
information regarding your religion background. However, we do not allow
employers to post jobs related to activities we deem illegal in Islam. For example,
if an employer posted a related to Alcohol/Bars through our service we will remove the job posting and refund him/her.

IslamCrunch: How much time do you devote to its growth?

Twffaha: As a startup we devote a large chunk of our time in developing, marketing, and managing Twffaha.com in order to ensure it will keep growing organically. Working for 50 hours a week is our average.

IslamCrunch: How large is your team and what are your backgrounds?

Twffaha: The team behind the service comes from different cultures and background. We are well experienced with web development as Twffaha is actually our third project, although it is the first one we operate solely. Our team currently consists of two main members Ashraf Mansoor who is in charge of Development and Marketing and Ammar Mustafa who is responsible for Operations and Sales. We are looking to hire 3 more talented individuals to join our team in the following 2-3 months enshallah.

IslamCrunch: What is your design/service philosophy?

(more…)

As the Muslim Twitter list grows, we wanted to start a list for Muslim Pownce users. You know the drill, if you are a Muslim user of Pownce, drop a comment with a link to your profile, please feel free to add your business if you use Pownce to promote your company.

First 5 valid comments will get an invite to SocialThing.

And if you are on FriendFeed (similar to SocialThing), please add us here: http://friendfeed.com/islamcrunch

On Pownce, check us out here: www.Pownce.com/IslamCrunch

Here is an earlier post about Pownce with a video review from CenterNetworks.

Our followers on Twitter have increased since being mentioned on a tweet conversation. We appreciate all the brothers & sisters & organizations who are following us. We wanted to expand the Muslim Twitter phenomena by asking all Muslim users of Twitter to drop a comment with a link to your Twitter profile. If you use Twitter to promote your business, please feel free to add a link to you site and/or blog. Also please add your favorite method of receiving and sending tweets: clients, IM, phone, web, etc.

First 5 Twitter users who add comments will get an invite to Ping.fm, currently in closed beta mode.

And follow us here: http://twitter.com/islamcrunch

After seeing a spike in traffic, we realized that our site was getting hits from Twitter.com and from Quotably.com. The main blogger for Techcrunch France (Ouriel Ohayon) had sent a tweet to Michael Arrington asking him to check out IslamCrunch.

Of course, we gave thanks* to Ouriel for mentioning us. To see our brief conversation, click on the image below:

You can read more about our name on our ‘About‘ page. Those of you who use Twitter, please add us: http://www.twitter.com/islamcrunch

* We found this verse from the Quran, Surah Al-Imran, quite fitting for this post:

And hold fast by the covenant of Allah all together and be not disunited, and remember the favor of Allah on you when you were enemies, then He united your hearts so by His favor you became brethren; and you were on the brink of a pit of fire, then He saved you from it, thus does Allah make clear to you His communications that you may follow the right way.

Quran Chapter 3, verse 103

Our friends of Nasheeds.com have a special bonus for all IslamCrunch readers. Use the code below to receive a 15% discount on all purchases! Some CDs are already on sale. Use the code to receive an additional 15% off on sale items!

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Pre-order the upcoming Native Deen album, Not Afraid to Stand Alone. This album has been highly anticipated. Anyone who has seen Native Deen recently will know that they have grown artistically, creatively and spiritually. When our brothers from Native Deen visited San Jose this year, their set was a m a z i n g.

Click on the CD cover to read more about the album.

Another album to add to your collection is Hamza Robertson’s Something About Life. Hamza may not be a household name yet but he has already toured with Sami Yusuf, Native Deen and other well-known nasheed performers. Use the special code above to add an additional 15% to the current discount of 10% off. That’s 25% discount!

Click on the CD cover to read more about the album.

Out Seeing the Fields by singer/songwriter Dawud Wharnsby is an intimate collection of songs underscored by acoustic guitar and the intricate piano work of US based composer Idris Phillips. Wharnsby’s poetry and voice are in the foreground as usual, with subject matter addressing honesty of faith, quest for identity, spiritual growth, and love. Other elements include a tribute to peace activist Rachel Corrie and a semi-autobiographic look at balancing faith with the egocentric music industry. Another opportunity to purchase this album at 25% discount.

Click on the CD cover to read more about the album.

Nasheeds.com has been very gracious to showcase IslamCrunch on their site and our relationship continues to grow, which all began here: http://islamcrunch.com/archives/ramadan-competition/

Please support them, tell all your friends about this offer and purchase your ‘Eid gifts now. Share this article by clicking here!

* = valid until December 31, 2007.